The Buick Skylark pace car prepares to lead the assembled field away on its formation lap for the 11-lap Seneca Cup contest for Sports and Unrestricted Class cars.
1955 was the last year of racing on public roads for Watkins Glen—September 17. It was the 4.6-mile course up on the hill in Dix Township—the one with the mile and a third steep downhill straight ending in a hairpin turn. If you ran out of brakes or just weren’t careful, you could end up on the front porch of a farmer’s house, watched by the people sitting on the roof of his barn. As Cunningham driver Phil Walters noted, “it is a course for brave men.” Abarth driver John Bentley called it “crazy.” Not far from the start/finish line was a new landing field for those among the drivers or spectators arriving in private planes. This simple course actually saved racing at Watkins Glen after the fatal accident in 1952. It had been the next place to race and had gotten the Grand Prix Corporation to the 8th Annual Watkins Glen.
Early in the Seneca Cup race, Bob Bucher in the #29 Cad Allard leads the pack at dusty Townsend Corner. Following are the #222 Cheetah of John Plaisted and the Ford-Riley of George Rabe. Bucher’s car later dropped out with carburetion problems, but Plaisted finished 4th overall while winning the Unrestricted Class. Photo: Alix Lafontant
Race #1 was the Seneca Cup and the winner was Pittsburgh driver Dr. M.R.J. Wyllie, once again, in a C-Type Jaguar. He led Dan Boylan in a new Mercedes Benz 300 SL and John Knight in a Jaguar XK-120M. It was a well-deserved win for Wyllie, and his third on the course on the hill in Dix Township. John Plaisted’s “Cheetah,” a Cadillac-engined special with an MG grille, came in 4th, with 5th overall taken by Ray Saidel in what the results sheet listed as a Cad-Allard but that was actually an Oldsmobile-Allard.
